LOS ANGELES – Don Basile Rookie of the Race is an annual award at the Turkey Night Grand Prix. It originated in 1998 at the suggestion of Bob Basile, son of the late racing promoter and National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee.
Bob funds the award with $500 cash annually for the highest finishing first-time driver in the midget feature regardless of prior racing experience. The first Basile TNGP rookie award winner in Bakersfield was future NASCAR star Kasey Kahne.
Other winners included: Dave Steele, Kevin Swindell, Kody Swanson, Kyle Larson, Tanner Thorson and World of Outlaws star Carson Macedo.
Most recent winners were Zeb Wise, Jason McDougal, Cannon McIntosh and Mitchel Moles. Four Basile rookie award winners—Steele, Bobby East, Larson and Thorson—later won at least one TNGP feature.
Last year Moles won the Basile rookie award by finishing third in the TNGP. He used the award to gain attention and USAC National rides. Moles set a combined 11 fastest qualifying times in USAC National Sprint and Midget Series. He won two USAC National Sprint features, three USAC National Midget features and the 2022 midget series rookie of the year award after finishing sixth in points.
Moles also won a USAC Western States midget feature.
The 2022 TNGP had 30 drivers eligible for the Basile award, with seven making the 98-lap feature. Leading the way was Jake Andreotti with a fourth place finish.
Behind Andreotti:
Alex Bright (seventh)
Jacob Denney (13th)
Jonathan Beason (17th)
Cade Lewis (18th)
Brody Fuson (24th)
Daniel Whitley (26th)
Andreotti, 20, and Whitley, 18, qualified ninth and tenth fastest in a 56-car field. They earned GP row five starting berths as top ten fastest qualifiers.
Veterans Bright and Beason often make Tulsa Chili Bowl Saturday A-mains. Denney, 17, won a USAC National Midget feature this summer as a rookie. In 2022 Fuson won two USAC Western States midget mains and two USAC West Coast 360 sprint features. Lewis won a USAC western series midget main and Whitley won a USAC western 360 feature.
The 34-page printed TNGP program by Harold Osmer and Neil Nissing was another outstanding effort. They have printed the program annually since 2001. They sold all 500 copies of the collectors item. The program contained 30-plus photos, stories, accurate entry rosters for midgets and sprint cars, top ten lists for USAC midget series and the USAC and VRA 360 sprints, an autographs page, and space to write lineups and finishing positions.
Each year, the TNGP program lists the top five feature finishers from 1934 through the most recent race. The list is a who’s who of open-wheel racing.
Last year there were four first time names on the top five list.
They were:
Winner Logan Seavey, Buddy Kofoid, Moles, Kaylee Bryson
This year there are again four first-time names added to the list:
Winner Justin Grant, Bryant Wiedeman, Andreotti, Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Thanksgiving night was the traditional night for the TNGP from 1934 onward. Rain caused a few postponements. The COVID pandemic in 2020 canceled the TNGP. Promoter Jim Naylor and the Agajanian brothers, who have decided the TNGP site since 1984 with USAC approval, decided to move the Wednesday-Thursday TNGP to Friday-Saturday.
Some fans had family obligations on Thanksgiving and could not attend a Thursday TNGP. The 2021 TNGP on Saturday was sold out. In 2022 they retained Friday-Saturday and another large crowd attended. Next season’s TNGP race date is set for Saturday, November 25.
The unique Aggie Trophy has a bronzed Stetson hat actually worn by promoter J. C. Agajanian atop the trophy. Doug Stokes, Irwindale Speedway Communications VP, in 2001 suggested the event have a significant perpetual trophy, the way the Indianapolis 500 has the Borg-Warner Trophy.
The Agajanian family provided one of Aggie’s traditionally-worn Stetson hats. A new, large, multi-sided Aggie Trophy has plaques with the year and name of the winner for every TNGP.
This year Stokes wanted to improve his original Aggie Trophy idea to include the names of the winning TNGP car owner on each of the 80 plaques. It took the collaboration of Osmer, Stokes, myself, and Richie Murray (USAC media) to discover the names of all 80 TNGP winning car owners.
Now the winning car owner is imprinted on every plaque along with the year and winning driver name. That new tradition will continue with car owner RMS Racing on the 2022 plaque with winner Justin Grant. Osmer, a skilled wood craftsman, also built a new wooden stand on which to display the Aggie Trophy.
The three Agajanian brothers have kept TNGP traditions alive since their father passed away in 1984. This year Cary and his son were in Qatar for the World Cup while Chris was home ill. J.C., Jr and his wife Franci were present and he participated as usual in trophy presentations with promoter Naylor.
The usual Agajanian family hospitality tent was near the main concourse with food and beverages and live streaming of all TNGP midget and sprint car races for their guests.